1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an environment setting method and device for setting an operating environment of an operating system (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated to “OS”) running on an information processing device, wherein the information processing device has the OS running therein as well as an application program running on the OS to perform processing including communication over a network. The present invention further relates to an environment setting program storage medium containing an environment setting program to be executed in the information processing device for implementing the functionality of the environment setting device in the information processing device, and to an information processing device including the functionality of the environment setting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, environments have been provided for personal computers (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated to “PCs”), personal digital assistants, cellular phones and their peripherals, and even home electric appliances to operate as information processing devices that are connected to a network to provide information processing capabilities. Networks have become essential in business operations. As continuous connection environments using ADSLs and CATVs are becoming widespread and more and more households are using more than one devices and appliances with information processing capabilities, the number of households that create home networking environment is increasing. In addition, more and more facilities such as airports, railroad stations and hotels and other open-air facilities are creating networks called “HotSpots” and are making available them to the public.
Furthermore, when a user connects his or her portable information processing device such as a notebook personal computer (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated to “notebook PC”) to a network, he or she is often required to change the operating environment of the OS of the information processing device according to his or her current location and circumstances because the operating environment of an OS or settings for an application program may vary depending on connection methods.
According to a prior-art approach, different sets of network settings for an OS or application program for different locations are provided beforehand and the user can determine and select an appropriate set of network settings based on his or her current location to change the operating environment of the OS running in the information processing device or settings for an application program.
Another prior-art approach is described in Japanese published unexamined application No. 2001-202249. The application discloses a technology that facilitates setting of an environment for an application on each of terminals connected to different networks that supports a network environment to which the terminal is connected. Specific steps of the environment setting process are as follows.
First, different sets of application setting information for different network environments are stored in an information storage medium (memory card) beforehand.
Then, a user attaches the information storage medium to his or her terminal. The terminal sequentially reads a number of sets of setting information stored on the information storage medium that support network environments and sets the setting information one after another to try and determine whether or not the terminal can be connected to servers or access services.
If the terminal can successfully access the network on such a try, the setting information used on that try is eventually set in the application software, then the process ends.
The above-described tasks for setting the operating environment of an OS and the like are considerably complicated and are not routinely performed by ordinary users of information processing devices such as notebook PCs. Therefore, it is hard for an ordinary user to change the environment of his or her device each time he or she carries it into a new place.
Even for a user who is familiar with setting change tasks and has a good command of environment change, it is burdensome to change settings each time required.
According to the above-described prior-art technology in which a user can select an appropriate set of setting information from among pre-provided sets of setting information for different networks to cause an information processing device to automatically change settings, the setting change tasks can be simplified.
However, as the number of network environments (places) in which an information processing device is used increases, it becomes difficult to select setting information appropriate to a network environment. A user may select wrong setting information and, as a result, cannot properly use the network or must make several selection tries before he or she can select appropriate setting information.
According to the technology disclosed in the Japanese published unexamined application described above, a user can use a network without selecting setting information appropriate to the network. The technology makes a plurality of terminals statically connected to different networks ready for using one of the networks, but is not intended to allow one device to be used in a plurality of network environments.
Furthermore, in some cases, even though setting information allowing a network to be successfully used is selected according to this technology, the setting information may not be necessarily most appropriate to the user.
For example, a large intranet may be created in a company by connecting smaller networks created for its divisions or factories. In such an intranet environment, an employee can access network resources of his or her division or factory from any of the other divisions or factories within the intranet regardless of the location of the division or factory. However, in most intranets, network resources that employees are permitted to use when they access an external network from the intranets are specified for each individual division or factory. One such a network resource may be a proxy server.
In the above-described technology, the trial process will end when one network is successfully accessed. If there are a plurality of sets of setting information that allow the network to be accessed successfully, the one that has the highest priority is selected in a trial process and those having lower priorities are never selected. Thus, if there are a plurality of sets of setting information that allow the network to be accessed successfully, the highest-priority one is always selected.
Therefore, the above-described technology cannot address the case described above. A selected set of setting information that allows a network to be accessed successfully is not always setting information that is appropriate under operational regulations. Therefore, eventually, the user has to change manually the information set in the application software.